Matthew Warren's Suicide Turns into Self-Serving Referendum on His Father by His Haters and Their Haters

First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers go out to the loved ones of Matthew David Warren, the youngest son of Rick and Kay Warren of Purpose-Driven Life Fame, who died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound this past Friday. There's been an outpouring of support, thoughts, and prayers from anyone with a pure heart--but in this day and age, that's essentially six people somewhere in Albuquerque.

We're no fans of Rick at the Weekly, but we take no schaudenfreude in the passing of his son--only the Warrens know the pain that Matthew went through in his life (which Rick said was caused by lifelong mental illness), and frankly, it's their business. Too bad others can't follow our lead: over the weekend, Matthew's death, instead of serving as a reminder of the frailty of life, has turned into a referendum of how people feel about Rick--in other words, an exercise in self-reflection, on a story that only involves the Warrens.

Right now, it seems half of the Internet is using Matthew's death to tee off against his father because--take your pick--Rick has preached against homosexuality, because Rick believes in God, because Rick never spoke about his son's illness and thus could've been an advocate for mental causes like he's been for so much, because Rick was a neglectful father blah blah blah. Even crazier is rampant speculation that Matthew took his life because he was gay, an assertion with no proof whatsoever but one that's popping up in comments and blog posts.

But the reaction to the reaction has hardly been better. Those people who hate the people who hate Rick are trashing the haters and attributing their ill-timed remarks to--take your pick--liberalism, the homosexual agenda, or atheism. The worst of all came from a website run by the reprehensible Michelle Malkin--in trashing Warren's opportunistic haters, they mocked the "It Gets Better" campaign started by Dan Savage to console gay teens with suicidal thoughts. Trashing people who use a suicide for their own agenda by mocking suicidal teens? CLASSY.

Enough with the agendas--everyone. There'll be time to hate on Rick Warren and to hate on the haters of Warren, and to hate ourselves into the Armageddon we deserve for our mutual self-serving circle jerks--but it ain't it now. Let the kid rest in peace, for chrissakes...

Gustavo Arellano is the editor of OC Weekly, author of the syndicated column "¡Ask a Mexican!", and Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. He started at the paper with an angry, fake letter to the editor and went from there—only in Anacrime!